What I've Learned About The Glutes + My Favourite Booty Burner!

Are you guys sick of hearing about my butt yet? Well too bad, I've become obsessed with all things glutes. Your glutes seem to be the most misunderstood part of all weight training. I'm going to attribute this to the fact that until recently weight training was left for the men, and not many men were too concerned with the state of their glutes. I think because of this, the glutes were severely overlooked in training programs and studies. Now that booty is all the rage, the glutes are finally getting the attention they deserve!

When I first started my fitness journey, I knew absolutely diddly squat (get it) about glutes. All I knew was:

1. Jen Selter has a nice butt and she looks like all she does is squat. 2. I should squat heavy. I had no idea what this really meant. What was heavy? 10kgs? 100kgs? No idea.3. Lunges are good too. And that fire hydrant thing where you legit look like a dog peeing.

Okay so the above is all I knew. Now, my squat form was terrible. I have anterior pelvic tilt and a bendy back, and I made an actual "C" shape when I squatted (see below picture for validation).

LOL - hawtie; January 2016

So I chose not to squat. I did lunges and step-ups and a mix of random exercises but really, I had no idea. Here's what I know now after 4 months of squatting, deadlifting, lunging and hip thrusting:

1. If you've been putting squats in the number one position for glute development, move them over for the hip thrust. Squats AND hip thrusts are equally important for glute development. 2. If you want to activate your glutes in the squat you have to a) stand with feet wider than shoulder width apart b) point your toes out c) push hips back and d) put weight into your heels. 3. "Squat heavy" for muscle growth means staying within the range for muscle hypertrophy. This should be between 12-15 reps. Once you reach 15 reps, increase the weight. 4. You should do a combination of high rep, moderate weight (e.g. 12 reps x 20kg) and low rep, high weight (e.g. 5 reps x 50kg) to activate all the muscle fibres of the glutes. 5. Your butt is made up of three muscles, the gluteus maximus, the gluteus medius and the gluteus minimus. All three muscles need to be hit with different exercises, variety is key. 6. Lunges are still good and so are fire hydrants. But there's loads of other exercises for your glutes. 7. The best exercise for lower glute activation is forward lunges or Bulgarian split squats.8. The best exercise for upper glute activation is the barbell hip thrust.9. Before any leg or booty exercise, open up your hips with a hip flexor dynamic stretch. It will allow you a better range of movement and prevent injury. So important guys! 10. Activate your glutes before you start your workout to get the muscles firing.

I wish I had known these points before I started training, it would have made a world of difference and I would have progressed a lot faster, so I hope it helps you too. Now here's that workout I know you came here looking for!

My results from changing my cardio based workout routine to a heavier weight based routine